Visibility
Who Can See This Group?
Findability, visibility, and joining are three separate questions
“Who can see this group?” and “why isn't my group showing up?” are the same question. Both come down to four separate settings that don't move together.
Four separate questions
| The question | The setting | What you can choose |
|---|---|---|
| Can people find us? | DiscoverableWhether your Group appears on the public browse page. | On, or off |
| Can people see what we're doing? | ConfidentialityHow much of the Group a non-member can read. | Just us, Our network, or Anyone |
| Can they read what we're deciding? | ReadingWhether non-members can open your Decisions and Discussions, or only see that the Group exists. | On, or off |
| Can people join? | JoiningWhat someone has to do to become a member. | Open, request, or invite-only |
A Group can be findable but closed to new members, or open to join but invisible to search. None of these settings imply any of the others.
What confidentiality never opens up
Confidentiality and reading control what a non-member can see of your deliberation. They do not reach your money, your files, your schedule or your roster:
- Treasury, Documents, Calendar and the member list stay Members-only at every setting. There is no combination that opens them to non-members.
- With reading turned off, a non-member sees your Group's name, purpose and member count — and nothing it is deliberating.
One exception worth knowing, because it is not obvious: a Group set to “Anyone” or “Our network” shows its treasury balance — the single number, not the transactions — to anyone signed in to EnDAO, including people who aren't members. That is what makes a Group's funding legible to the wider network it belongs to. Signing in is always required; a signed-out visitor never sees a balance. Set confidentiality to “Just us” if you don't want the number visible outside the Group.
Why a Group isn't showing up in search
Appearing on the public browse page needs all five of these at once:
- The discoverable switch is turned on.
- Your Group has a topic set. The switch can't be turned on without one, so this is usually already true — but a Group that predates topics has to pick one.
- Your Group is at the Live activation tier, not Sandbox or Unlisted. See What Changes When You Go Live.
- Its status is active.
- Its visibility is set to “Anyone”. This is the one that catches people out: “Our network” means link-only, so a Group set that way is never listed however the other conditions are set.
Missing any one of the five means your Group won't appear on the public browse page, and that combination is the most common reason a Group “isn't showing up.”
Being found and being reachable are different
Not appearing in search does not make your Group unreachable. Someone who has your Group's link can still open it, and what they see depends on your confidentiality setting rather than on whether you are listed.
- Set to Anyone, and listed
- The link opens your Group's full public page.
- Set to Anyone or Our network, but not listed
- The link still opens, but only to a short summary: the name, the purpose, how many members, and a way to ask to join. Nothing the Group is deliberating.
- Set to Just us
- The link shows exactly what a made-up address shows — nothing at all. A stranger cannot tell the difference between your Group and a Group that was never created.
Related guides
- What Changes When You Go Live: Sandbox, Unlisted, and Live are necessary but not sufficient on their own.
Still have questions? Check the FAQ or contact us.